A Picture of Hope for Scarecrow album

SHANNON’S David Hope has just released his second album, Scarecrow, on which he worked with Declan Sinnott.

The album comes six years after his debut A Picture, although there were two EPs in-between.

There is a variety of sounds on the album, although it’s mostly folk and roots based and all songs were written by Hope.

“There are some rock elements to some of the songs too. I like the idea that there are few completely solo/acoustic tracks there as well, because while I play with a band when I can I do a lot of solo gigs too, particularly when I travel to Europe.

“It’s nice to explore both of these on a record, some songs with a full band sound and some with a sound that’s as stripped back as it can possibly be. It was nice to be able to do that.”

The album was made in Cork and Limerick. “I did it in two parts really, one was with Declan Sinnott in his studio below in Cork. We did about three or four tracks with him there and the rest was done inside in the Bishop’s Palace in Limerick. It’s a studio run by Noel Hogan from the Cranberries. I part produced the album myself and it was part produced by Declan Sinnott.”

He was delighted to have the chance to work with Sinnott.

“It was just a fantastic education really, he’s been responsible for lots of great albums and worked with lots of great musicians. He’s one of the best musicians in the country himself, so from a guitarist point of view and from the point of view of someone trying to learn about how to produce things, it was a double education in that regard.”

He first got in touch with Sinnott after playing with several Cork musicians.

“I was working with a couple of guys from Cork and we were going to go and do a bit of recording. We were thinking about who we could record with and a friend of a friend, a guy called Hank Widdell was playing in a band with Declan at that time, one of the guys I knew, knew him. Declan came to see us at a gig in Cork and it sounded like something he wanted to work with. He liked the songs I sent to him and it happened from there.”

He writes his songs about all sorts of themes.

“I guess some of them are about trying to find our way in the world. there’s one song Someone Else’s Mind that’s about suicide related topics, there’s a couple of love songs, some of the songs are autobiographical and some are stories.”

Hope frequently tours in Germany and Switzerland and the album has received some airplay there, while it has also on the radio quite a bit here.

“The album was officially released in Switzerland in November and it’s been getting some good airplay over there which is nice.

“It’s starting to pick up over here as well, Clare FM have been very supportive thusfar. It’s been played on Radio 1, on Shannonside FM and Mid-West Radio. It’s not going to be number one anytime soon but it’s still getting a good bit of play, which is hard to get these days.”